DayTripper: Travel back in time at Granger Homestead

Granger Homestead is an imposing yellow house with a large front yard on Canandaigua's historic Main Street.

It is one of many large mansions on the city's main drag, but this one also is used as a museum and a site for weddings, parties, concerts, a Civil War Encampment and other festivities.

The home was built under the direction of Gideon Granger, a Connecticut native and strong supporter of Thomas Jefferson. That allegiance resulted in Granger being appointed postmaster general of the United States by President Jefferson in 1800, a post he retained when James Madison became president. When his governmental duties ended, Granger moved to Canandaigua and decided to build a home that would be "unrivaled in all the nation."

Constructed over two years, the homestead had a final price tag of $13,000, a whopping figure in 1816.

Granger died in 1822, and the home he built provided shelter for other Grangers and served as a private school for young girls from 1876 to 1906.

Touring the home, you will see many original Granger family portraits and furnishings and hear stories about the four generations of Grangers who resided here.

This year, visitors are being treated to a restored Victorian bedroom with new reproduction carpeting, wallpaper and Victorian curtains, according to Sherrill Parsons, director of marketing and volunteers.

Also spotlighted: A bit of light history.

The mansion was built before electricity, which meant daylight and candles were the lone light sources until they were supplemented by whale-oil lamps and fat lamps that burned animal fat.

Move to another building, the Carriage Museum, and you will find more than 70 horse-drawn and hand-drawn antique vehicles and farm implements that delve into 19th-century history. Featured here are sleighs, carriages, sporting vehicles, commercial wagons and hearses.

This year, the carriage facility, the largest such museum in western New York, is emphasizing agricultural implements "so people will see what it was like to farm 191 years ago," Parsons said.

The tour of both structures takes about two hours.

But there is more.

The homestead hosts a number of activities throughout the season, and this year it will hold its first Christkindl Market. This event marks a name change from Holidays at the Homestead and is an expansion of this arts-and-crafts gathering.

The new event will be held Nov. 9 to 11. The market, with a German flair, will be held under large, heated tents on the homestead grounds with a juried holiday arts-and-crafts show, music, traditional and ethnic food, and horse-drawn carriage rides.

The Granger Homestead season begins in late May and continues through Oct. 26. Tours are offered on the hour; the last tour of the day is at 3 p.m.

Here is a sampling of some homestead events:

- Through August, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, horse-drawn carriage rides of Canandaigua neighborhoods. Also 1 to 3 p.m. carriage rides over the grounds.

Horse-drawn carriages driven by costumed drivers take visitors through historic neighborhoods on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Advance reservations are needed. The fee is $20 ($10 for children, free for ages 3 and younger).